About Appliance Cost Calculator
Appliance Cost Calculator exists to answer one question as accurately as possible: how much does it actually cost to run this appliance? No sign-up, no spreadsheet, no guesswork — enter a wattage and your hours of use and you get the monthly and yearly cost in seconds.
Who runs this site
This site is built and maintained by Pond Software, an independent developer that makes small, fast, single-purpose web tools. We are not a utility company, an appliance manufacturer, or a retailer — we don't sell electricity or appliances, and nobody pays us to recommend one brand over another. That independence is the whole point: the number the calculator gives you is just arithmetic on the inputs, not a sales pitch.
Where our numbers come from
Every estimate on the site is built from three things you can check yourself:
- Wattage.The pre-loaded wattage for each appliance reflects typical real-world ratings for that class of device. You can always override it with the figure printed on your own appliance's label or in its manual — that will always be the most accurate input.
- Usage hours. You tell us how long the appliance runs. For always-on appliances like refrigerators and freezers, we account for the fact that the compressor only cycles part of the time.
- Electricity rate. The default of $0.16/kWh reflects the 2024 U.S. national average residential rate. Your actual rate is on your utility bill, and our electricity rates by state page lists typical rates so you can plug in a closer number.
The math itself is deliberately simple and transparent: watts ÷ 1,000 × hours × rate. We show the formula rather than hide it behind a black box, so you can reproduce any result by hand.
Our editorial approach
The guides and comparisons on this site are written to be genuinely useful, not to hit a word count. Our rules for ourselves:
- We don't invent statistics. If a figure isn't something you can verify from an appliance label, a utility bill, or a published national average, we leave it out.
- We give ranges, not false precision. Real appliances vary, so a “$50–100/year” estimate is more honest than a single made-up dollar figure.
- We keep the default rate current and note the year it reflects, so you always know how fresh the assumption is.
- When we recommend a product, we say plainly that it's an affiliate link — see our affiliate disclosure.
Start with the calculator
The fastest way to see how the site works is to use it. Try the main appliance cost calculator, compare two appliances side by side on the comparison tool, or read up on the most and least efficient appliances to find where your bill is really going.
Spotted a wattage that looks off or have a suggestion? We'd like to hear it — get in touch.